Awakening: Reincarnating With the SSS-Level Extraction Talent

But before he could even begin typing, the name filled itself in automatically.

A-L-P-H-O-X.

"I don\'t have a say in this?" Alex raised an eyebrow, glancing at the dragon.

"No," Alphox, the shadow dragon, smiled with a mixture of arrogance and amusement.

"Guess not," Alex muttered, rolling his eyes.

Alphox shifted his gaze to the giant skeleton above Alex, "But anyway, how did you get hold of the undead king?"

"I beat him," Alex shrugged.

"No way you beat him, he is far stronger than you are!"

"It\'s true," the Undead King spoke up, his voice thick with irritation. "I\'ve been weakened by the Undead Lord. I\'m regaining my strength, but until then, I\'m bound to this... human."

Alphox let out a deep, rumbling laugh that echoed in the open air.

"How the mighty have fallen! Bound by a contract to such a weakling." He glanced at the Undead King with what seemed like pity. "To think we were once rivals. How disgraceful."

"Save your breath," the Undead King groaned, "I have no interest in chit-chat. I\'ll be in my space."

With that, he dissipated into a cloud of dark smoke and vanished back into Alex\'s contract space.

Alex was still confused, but it seems that the Undead King and Alphox knew each other from somewhere.

This had saved him, and thanks to it, Alphox accepted to be his pet.

Alphox was prideful and had an immense EGO, so he obviously wouldn\'t listen to orders, but at least he would take care of monsters and players.

"Here," Alex lifted the [Maxed out Magic Crystal] in front of the shadow dragon.

"Good," The dragon\'s eyes glowed with recognition, and without hesitation, he lunged forward, biting down on the crystal.

It shattered instantly in his massive jaws, releasing a surge of energy that swirled around his body like dark flames.

[Your companion, "Alphox" has consumed a "Maxed Out Magic Crystal" and retrieved 20% of his "Primordial" powers.]

Primordial Dragons are at around the 8th tier, meaning level 1000, so right now, Alphox had become a tier 4 pet, soon to be tier 5.

Reminder that tier 3 is level 60, tier 4 is level 100 and tier 5 is level 250.

Alphox let out a satisfied growl, his scales shimmering with newfound energy.

Even though he had been just hatched, the power of a [Primordial Dragon] was evident.

He could easily overpower Alex.

"Good, I feel the power, your action is appreciated, human," Alphox laughed, "Now these other dragons won\'t mock me once I retrieve my full power."

It seems that Alphox was the only one among the ten [Primordial Dragons] to have ended up inside a pet egg.

"Pet Panel," Alex whispered.

...

[Name: Alphox]

[Type: Primordial Shadow Dragon]

[Rank: Tier 4]

[Master: FateBreaker]

[Skills: Shadow Flames, Strike, Fly...]

[Description: One of the member of the ten primordial dragons, the most powerful dragons in \'Universal Descent\', nearly impossible to tame.]

...

Just like players, pets could grow stronger by leveling up and acquiring new skills.

But unlike players, pets often relied on items or events to progress rather than just defeating monsters, as you couldn\'t see their real level, only their star ranking.

"Interesting," Alphox laughed, "I guess that should be enough for now."

With his new powers, Alphox was now officially a 4-Star or Fourth-Tier Pet.

This ranking works the same as with humans.

Level 10 = 1 star ; Level 35 = 2 stars; Level 60 = 3 stars; Level 100 = 4 stars; Level 250 = 5 stars; and so on...

You could also refer to those as Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3...

As the game progressed, people would start being addressed by their star ranking.

This is how it made it easier to know who you should fight or not.

"Impressive, FateBreaker," Alphox laughed as he saw Alex\'s panel, and yes, he could do that.

"Huh, Alex?" Alice, beside him, spoke, "Did you... tame it?"

"Hm..." Alex scratched his chin, "I guess you could say so..."

If he wanted to keep the [Shadow Dragon] with him, he would need to grow much stronger.

The only reason it stayed was because he seemed interesting, as well as the fact the [Undead King], whom it seemed to know, was with him.

"So, what\'s your deal with the Undead King?" Alex asked.

Alphox smirked. "He and I go way back. We fought many battles in the ancient wars. I could have destroyed him back then, but circumstances spared him. He\'s lucky I\'m not in the mood to reminisce right now."

His eyes shifted toward the horizon, "But it seems you hold something else of interest, human."

"Hm?"

Alphox\'s gaze was locked onto Alex\'s inventory, where the "Undead Land Secret Area Token" was stored.

"I see you possess the token," Alphox said, grinning wickedly. "That token gives you access to the Undead King\'s homeland. Wouldn\'t it be fitting for him to return and witness what has become of his old domain?"

Undead Land was the land of the undead, as in the name, and it was a 4-Star to 5-Star area, meaning that only someone that is level 100-250 should access it.

Alex frowned. "Undead Land? That\'s a Fourth to Fifth-Tier area. I\'m only level 33. I\'m not ready for that!"

The shadow dragon chuckled darkly, "Your level matters little to me. We\'re going."

Fwish!

Before Alex could argue further, Alphox raised his wings high and without any warning, shot into the sky, his claws gripping the back of Alex\'s armor.

In seconds, they were soaring far above the landscape.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Alex yelled, the wind whipping against his face.

"Testing you," Alphox replied, sounding amused. "Show me that you are worthy to be my master."

Alex frantically messaged Alice, who had been left behind.

[StarPillow: What the hell just happened?]

[FateBreaker: The dragon doesn\'t listen to me, but don\'t worry about me, I\'ll come back eventually.]

[StarPillow: Oh, alright, I think I\'ll just log off then, my dad sent me a message.]

[FateBreaker: Alright, have fun, I\'m sure I will...]

Closing the chat, Alex focused on the scenery below.

The lush fields of grass had given way to a dark and twisted landscape.

The sky above was filled with ominous clouds, and a cold, eerie wind swept through the area.

This was clearly not a place Alex was ready to explore.

After what felt like an eternity of flying (20 minutes), Alphox finally descended.

Alex couldn\'t deny the scenery from above was impressive, he had wished he could ride on the dragon\'s back, not under it.

"And... We\'ve arrived."

Below, a thick black mist loomed, obscuring everything within it.

[World Map Notification]

[You have discovered "Undead Land." To access it, use a token.]

"Have fun, \'Master\'" Aphox mocked as he dropped Alex, resulting in him falling at high speed toward the mist.

"DAMN YOU, ALPHOX," Alex shouted, but the shadow dragon didn\'t listen.

Just like the [Undead King], pets also have personal spaces inside the host, and upgrading those spaces is an essential way of keeping your most powerful pets in check.

Alphox immediately seeped inside that space.

"COME BACK!"

[You have called "Alphox" from inside the "Shadow Dragon Pet Space"...]

["Alphox" has refused your call.]

"Damn."

The mist swirled around him, and just before he hit the ground, a notification popped up.

[Undead Land Secret Area Token has been detected, automatically using it.]

[You have discovered a new area in the map: Undead Land.]

[Level 100-250 Area.]

[Good luck!]

Fwish!

He passed through the mist, the location of [Undead Land] now marked on his [World Map].

CRASH!

He hit the ground hard.

-2371!

But thankfully enough, he didn\'t die, even from such a height, thanks to his [Superior Awakener\'s Set].

And so, now, he was in [Undead Land]\'s starting area.

"Fucking hell..." he didn\'t plan to go here until a while, because there was no chance a level 33 player could even beat this area, but here he was.

At least that\'s better than the [Dragon Realm].

Oh, and the reason why Alex had been panicking was because when you enter a secret area that is on the map, meaning like the [Dragon Realm], the [Abyss] or in that case [Undead Land].

Then your spawn point is immediately reset to here.

[Spawn point set!]

Meaning that even if he died, he would just appear back here.

[As Undead Land is an advanced area, death will not remove any levels, and you will not be forcefully logged off.]

He was stuck here.

He groaned, pushing himself to his feet and taking in his surroundings.

Dark wastelands stretched out in every direction.

The ground was cracked and barren, and strange, skeletal trees dotted the landscape.

In the distance, a massive castle loomed—undoubtedly the [Undead Castle].

It was the home of the new [Undead Lord].